Ahmedabad: A cargo vessel on way to Somalia today (Aug 28, 2004) sunk off Jakhau coast in Kutch in the wee hours, about 350 kms from Ahmedabad but police claimed that all 20 crewmembers had managed to escape in a rescue boat.

However, these 20 people are not traceable and efforts are on to find out their whereabouts, police and Coast Guard sources said.

The vessel al-Shehenshah-e-Hind, owned by a lady named Yasmine in Khambhaliya town of Jamnagar district, was transporting 575 tonnes of rice and had began its voyage from Mundra port in Kutch on August 21, Jakhau police said.

"According to reports reaching Ahmedabad, the vessel had managed to travel 200 kms after Karachi. But due to stormy conditions and rough sea, they were returning to Mundra when it collided with rocks in the Kori creek and subsequently sunk," Police Sub-Inspector O M Rawal said over phone.

About crewmembers, Rawal said that one of them, Ajit Salemohammed Bhaya had sent a wireless message to the vessel owner Yasmeen's brother-in-law at 8:30 hrs (IST), saying that "vessel was sinking and the crew members were leaving the vessel using the rescue boats."

"This was the last message from the vessel and after that the crew members have not been traced," Rawal said.

Sources said that the efforts to trace the crew are being hampered due to stormy conditions in the sea. Five fishing boats of Coast Guard teams have been dispatched to the Jakhau but a search conducted by helicopter did not yield anything, a Coast Guard spokesman said.